Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal. Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. With an area of 504,030 km˛, Spain is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France. The capital is Madrid.
Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a parliamentary government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a developed country with the ninth largest economy by nominal GDP, and high living standards (16th highest HDI). It is a member of the United Nations, European Union, NATO, OECD, and WTO.
According to the World Bank, Spain's economy is the ninth largest worldwide and the fifth largest in Europe. It is also the 3rd largest world investor. As of 2007, absolute GDP was valued at $1,439,000 trillion according to the CIA Factbook, (see List of countries by GDP (nominal)). The per capita PPP is estimated at $33,600 (2007), a level similar to those of France and Japan. As late as 2007 the economy grew at 3.8% after a long period of robust growth. However the bursting of the property bubble saw a rapid slowdown in 2008, which brought the country into official recession by February 2009.
The Spanish economy had been credited for having avoided the virtual zero growth rate of some of its largest partners in the EU. In fact, the country's economy had created more than half of all the new jobs in the European Union over the five years ending 2005, a process that is rapidly being reversed. The Spanish economy had been until recently regarded as one of the most dynamic within the EU, attracting significant amounts of foreign investment. During the last four decades the Spanish tourism industry has grown to become the second biggest in the world, worth approximately 40 billion Euros, about 5% of GDP, in 2006. More recently, the Spanish economy had benefited greatly from the global real estate boom, with construction representing an astonishing 16% of GDP and 12% of employment in its final year.
A European Commission forecast had predicted Spain would enter a recession by the end of 2008. According to Spain’s Finance Minister, “Spain faces its deepest recession in half a century”. Spain's government forecast the unemployment rate would rise to 16% in 2009. The ESADE business school predicts 20%.
While economic conditions grow worse across Western Europe, Spain’s woes are particularly acute. Coming down from housing and credit bubbles that dwarfed those of neighboring nations, Spain’s deflationary collapse is now hitting levels of intensity which will soon have profound repercussions on greater Europe. In Spain, no one is talking about a potential recovery in 2009 — or 2010.
The numbers are grim. Once a primary engine of growth in Europe, Spain is now one of the leaders on the way down. Official numbers on unemployment are a staggering 17.5% and are expected to top 20.5% by end of 2009. Bankruptcies have quadrupled this year, and industrial production has withered by an alarming 25%. The construction industry, so vital to their economic health over the past 5 years, has imploded as construction projects are scrapped nationwide.
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| Number of EWB companies registered | 0
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| National EwB coordinator | Javier Samaran Salo |
| Email | javier.samaran [at] fundacionjaes.org |
| Official languages | Spanish |
| Population | 46,661,950 |
| GDP |
Total $1,397 trillion
Per capita $30,620 |
| Currency | Euro (€) (EUR) |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| Internet TLD | .es |
| Calling code | +34 |
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